Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser, Walmart Family Mobile. All opinions are mine alone. #YourTaxCash #CollectiveBias

I’m not ready for my little boys to be so independent, but it turns out that they don’t wait for you to be ready – they just keep getting older. And as they get older, you get busier. Between school, band, sports, and other activities, there’s a lot of running around on my part, and sometimes that means waiting around on their part. So naturally, we decided to add a new family member.

The boys have been begging for a phone for a while now, and my husband and I knew we would eventually need that extra line to keep everyone coordinated. We both have Samsung Galaxy phones, so we decided on the Samsung Galaxy On5 as a great choice for the boys to use since they’re already familiar with the platform. We set aside a little bit of the tax refund, and lo-and-behold, we got to Walmart and it was on rollback for $69* (regularly $119!) Score!

(Disclaimer: All prices for phones and plans included in this post are accurate as of the date of posting; however, these prices are subject to change. Please refer to the Walmart Family Mobile websiteoryour local Walmart for current pricing.)

Setting it up was simple, and within minutes of getting it home and popping the battery and SIM card from the SIM Kit (purchased separately for $19.88) in, it was ready to use! Since Family Mobile bills you later, you only have to pay $19.88 when you sign up.

We went with the Walmart Family Mobile Plus Plan ($49.88 per month) which includes Unlimited* Talk, Text, and Data (*Includes up to 10GB of 4G LTE† data then 2G) plus a free VUDU movie credit every month ($7 value – the price of a new release rental) per line. I don’t love setting things up over the phone – my kids are so loud and I can never hear anything – so having the ability to go to the Walmart Family Mobile website and quickly set up our new line was awesome.

As these boys are quickly turning into independent tweens, (even thought I’m totally not ready for it,) I’m glad we can still find ways to stay connected. I’m not worried about them going over on their data so they don’t have to conserve it for emergencies. They can enjoy playing games on the phone while waiting for me to pick them up from whatever activity they’re at that day.

When we’re not all split up between different activities and obligations, we now have a great way to connect together as a family at home. Using our free VUDU monthly movie credit, we now have an excuse to have a Family Movie Night each and every month. I’m actually making it a requirement! With the cost of the movie included in our Walmart Family Mobile Plan and a monthly date already set, we can gather around the TV for some quality family time. I think the hardest part will just be getting everyone to agree on a movie that all of us will want to watch!

Walmart Family Mobile makes staying connected with your tweens simple, and gives you a great value for your money. Head to Walmart to see how you can max your tax cash too.

Two days ago, here in the county that my family lives in, a grown man fired his gun among a group of young teenagers. Let me repeat these facts. A grown, adult man, pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans, and fired it. Whether purposely or not, it does not matter. (Warning: the following image may be hard to look at.)

This post was sponsored by Lully as part of Influencer Activation for Influence Central.

My almost-three-year-old daughter is the baby of the family. I guess that’s why I’ve lagged a little bit on getting her to properly sleep in her own bed. But I’ve reached a level of exhaustion that I didn’t think was possible. I can’t take the midnight wake up calls anymore. I can’t handle being pushed out of my bed by a tiny human who takes up more space in the bed than my husband and I put together. I need to sleep through the night! Which means she needs to sleep through the night…

Recently there was a conversation in a local facebook group that I help run about legitimate work-from-home jobs for moms. Many moms felt that it was impossible to actually get work done with kids at home, and that you still need some form of child care to be successful.

“No way!” I chimed in. I mean, I’ve been at it for years now, even answering work emails while in labor. Aside from the fact that my living room is never clean and my kitchen is a literal nightmare, I still manage to get my work done mostly on time. I’m a Modern American Woman! I can be effective! I can do it all!

“This post was sponsored by Evenflo as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received the Evenflo Sibby Travel System to facilitate my review.”

Even though I have four kids, I’m way past the double stroller days. In fact, my 4-year-old would rather push his two-year-old sister in the stroller than ever ride in it again. And my two-year-old, sometimes she wants to sit, and other times she wants to “do it by myself.” And 99% of the time she wants to do it barefoot.

“This post was sponsored by a2 Milk® as part of an Ambassador Program for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review.”

Can you believe it’s almost time to go back to school? I feel like we really just started getting to enjoy our summer and now I’m scrambling to get everything together because…all four of my kids are going to school this year!!!!

Mama is getting some alone time. In just two weeks I will have a 5th grader, a 2nd grader, and two preschoolers. And I’m sending them all back to school without any bellyaching.

Okay, maybe a little bellyaching because not all of us are morning people here. I can’t help that! But I can help their tummy issues, and I can make sure their breakfast doesn’t create any! Whether it’s a bowl of cereal, a smoothie, or donuts and a glass of milk (hey, sometimes you gotta pick your battles), I can send them off knowing they’re not going to have any tummy troubles later in the day.

I’ve been working with a2 Milk®since I became an ambassador back in March. But shortly after trying it, I was hooked! The main reason? a2 Milk® is real milk! It’s not a milk replacement, it’s not a specially treated milk product, it’s milk from cows! The cows themselves are a special because they are naturally free of the A1 protein, which is the cause of many people’s post-dairy discomfort issues.

An independent study showed that 1 in 4 Americans have discomfort after drinking milk, but only 5-7% of the population has been clinically diagnosed with a lactose intolerance medical condition. Most people just simply self-diagnose and avoid dairy all together. But there’s a better way!

a2 Milk® is the real replacement to overly processed alternatives. No need to compromise taste and nutrition with nut or bean-based beverages – or worse yet, cutting out milk all together. Plus, it contains approximately 6x the amount of calcium as soy beverages, approximately 8x the protein of almond beverages and approximately 6x the potassium levels of rice beverages.

For more information and resources, click here to visit the Lactose Intolerance section of the a2 Milk website.

All that nutrition in one glass of milk means I don’t feel bad about serving it alongside some delicious cookies as an after school snack. And with four kids in school, I’ll have plenty of time to make them!

We buy a2 Milk® at Ralph’s, our local Kroger store. But you can find a store near you by clicking here. Check out trya2milk.com for a coupon to try it for free!

This post is sponsored by Huggies but the content and opinions expressed here are my own. Scroll down for TWO awesome Sam’s Club giveaways!

I’ve got a secret for you guys. I’m tired. (Okay, it’s not really a secret, I guess)

Who knew toddlers could be SO exhausting? I certainly didn’t think that after having three boys, my daughter would be the one that would run me ragged. She never stops moving! But thankfully, she is also SO helpful. And it turns out, she’s kind of an interior design prodigy! I mean, you can see by her fashion choices that she has an eye for patterns and colors.

I participated in this sponsored campaign on behalf of Firefly®, REACH®, and One2One Network. All opinions stated are my own.

Do you have lazy brushers in your house? You know the ones. You ask them to brush their teeth, and they go in the bathroom to do so, then come out five seconds later. You check their toothbrush and it’s totally been used. But you know that a few seconds of “brushing” isn’t helping anyone. While my oldest is pretty great at the oral care routine, the other three would rather skip this “chore.” Until now!

Firefly is a leader in children’s oral care solutions and has recently expanded its line of toothbrushes to include even more fun characters and products that are ADA-approved and affordably priced. You’ve probably seen their light-up toothbrushes before, but now they have even more products that are designed to help turn brush time into playtime. [Read more…]

This past Monday I attended a screening of The Jungle Book in 3D. First of all, if you’re going to see it, 3D makes all the difference. I mean, if you don’t like becoming completely immersed in the movie you’re watching then by all means, watch it in plain old 2D. Anyway, to this screening I did not bring my children. I scrutinized the trailers and I thought it would most likely be okay for my 10 and 7 year olds, but I wanted to see it myself first. I’m glad I did. It came out today, so if you’re planning on making a trip to see it part of your weekend, read this first!

Photo Credit: Disney

This is not The Jungle Book you remember as a kid. While the characters are the same name, there is definitely a darker element at play. Shere Khan is truly a villain, and at times I even jumped when he came on screen. Kaa is not a funny-eyed snake, but rather a seductive storyteller. (Not in a suggestive way, or anything like that. I think Scarlett Johansson’s voice just always does that.) King Louie is also much more frightening than his cartoon counterpart. There is a small amount of death, though no dying is actually shown on camera.

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Angela has been writing since she could hold a crayon. These days she writes from her living room amidst the chaos of a house that looks like it was visited by a tornado of toys and clothes. When she's not saying "keep your body parts off of your brother," she enjoys cooking gourmet meals for the harshest seven-year-old food critic in town, tuning out the blasting volume of the television, traveling all over the country with and without her family, and running through a Lego obstacle course with bare feet. Read More…